Russian space chief criticizes sanctions imposed by United States

The head of Russia's space agency warned that new sanctions could have dire consequences for the International Space Station program.

Rob Mitchell, a senior space editor at Ars Technica, shared a translation of a message from Dimitry Rogozin, the director-general of the Russian space agency, who asked, "Do you want to destroy our cooperation on the International Space Station?" Russia and the United States are major partners in the program.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday. The action has drawn international condemnation as well as new economic sanctions. NASA told Space.com that civil cooperation between the U.S. and Russia in space will continue.

The new sanctions could cause the International Space Station to crash to Earth in an uncontrollable fashion, according to a different tone from Rogozin. According to the European Space Agency, the Russian segment of the ISS is responsible for guidance, navigation and control. Russian Progress cargo craft give boost to the International Space Station to make sure it doesn't sink too low into Earth's atmosphere.

The US and Russia have a partnership in space.

The United States has been accused of limiting exchanges between Russian cosmonauts and their international counterparts.

Biden is out of the loop because the Russian systems that control the space station can dodge dangerous conjunctions with space junk, according to Rogozin.

The space junk comes from the United States and is likely a reference to the founder of the company, Musk. Rogozin once invited Musk for tea, which apparently has complicated feelings for the billionaire.

More than 2,000 Starlink satellites have been launched by the company and could eventually be delivered to space.

The crew of the International Space Station were forced to shelter in place after a Russian anti-satellite test generated a cloud of debris. The risk posed to the station and its crew was criticized by space debris watchers.

The International Space Station would deorbit naturally without periodic reboosts from Progress freighters.

The space station's high altitude causes it to collide with some particles in the atmosphere, which drags it down over time. The first operational reboost of the Cygnus program will be performed at the International Space Station just days ago, and it may eventually transfer this capability to U.S. vehicles as well.

The space station's inclination of 51.6 degrees does not mean it will take over Russia, as was raised by Rogozin. The Baikonur Cosmodrome is under the path of the International Space Station.

If you block cooperation with us, who will save the International Space Station from an unguided deorbit to the U.S. or Europe?

The space community knows about the threat that the blustery Rogozin made in the summer of 2014, when he suggested that American astronauts should go to space on trampolines. NASA retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011; Russia was the sole provider of crewed trips to the space station.

His comments Thursday were even more colorful. It was suggested that the people planning sanctions may be suffering from Alzheimer's disease and that decision-makers are unaware that Russian rockets are the most reliable ones in this world.

It is not the first time that Rogozin has spoken about sanctions. The trampoline comment was made in response to the new sanctions. The U.S. had a different set of restrictions planned in 2021, due to what American officials described as Russian-led cyberattacks and election interference, according to media reports. Russia was threatening to pull out of the International Space Station unless the sanctions were revoked.

Russia integrated a major expansion to the International Space Station just months ago. The Nauka science module was launched to the space station in July and caused a spacecraft emergency due to an unexpected thruster firing. The Prichal docking module came to the International Space Station without incident in November, expanding the number of docking ports on the Russian side.

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